Hazelnut

Hazelnut sherry zabaglione Total time: About 15 minutes Servings: 2 4 egg yolks 6 tablespoons sugar, more or less as desired 1/4 cup dry sherry, preferably oloroso 1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until combined and frothy. Whisk in the sherry and the hazelnut liqueur. 2. Set the bowl over a large pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Lemon hazelnut vinaigrette Total time: 10 minutes Servings: This makes 1¼ cups vinaigrette Note: This recipe requires xanthan gum, as well as a fine mesh strainer.

Looking for a winning rugelach recipe? Former Test Kitchen director Donna Deane came up with these for a holiday story we ran a few years ago. And we still haven't been able to forget them.... Her recipe makes the most wonderfully flaky pastry dough, which you can wrap around your choice of fillings, including chocolate-hazelnut, cherry-almond and apricot. Tempted yet? The festive cookies are one of the favorite holiday cookie recipes we've collected in our updated "Los Angeles Times Holiday Cookies" e-book.

Total time: 1½ hours plus cooling time for the cake Servings: 12 to 16 Note: This recipe calls for a 10-inch angel food cake pan (preferably a pan with a removable insert). Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 2 cups (8 ounces)

A mixture of ground nuts -- such as hazelnut and almonds -- sugar and liquid (egg whites and perhaps a liqueur), nut pastes are frequently added to baked cakes, tarts and pastries for added richness and flavor. Although prepared almond and hazelnut pastes (and marzipan, a sweetened almond paste) can be found at many gourmet markets and specialty stores, they can easily be made at home. Continue reading below for recipes for homemade pastes, including the hazelnut paste we used when adapting Valerie Confections' hazelnut-orange tea cakes , pictured at left, for our Culinary SOS column (they take a little time, but these amazing little cakes are well worth the effort!

Dear SOS: The hazelnut red pepper pesto that accompanies the salmon at Thyme restaurant in Santa Monica is addictive. I've made a lot of pestos, but this is different than anything I've tasted ? tangy and, well, just scrumptious! Anything you can do to bring this delicious pesto into our homes? Aline Smithson Los Angeles Dear Aline: Roasted red peppers are a perfect smoky base for this rustic sauce, brightened with a little lemon and dotted with fresh chopped chives.

A mixture of ground nuts -- such as hazelnut and almonds -- sugar and liquid (egg whites and perhaps a liqueur), nut pastes are frequently added to baked cakes, tarts and pastries for added richness and flavor. Although prepared almond and hazelnut pastes (and marzipan, a sweetened almond paste) can be found at many gourmet markets and specialty stores, they can easily be made at home. Continue reading below for recipes for homemade pastes, including the hazelnut paste we used when adapting Valerie Confections' hazelnut-orange tea cakes , pictured at left, for our Culinary SOS column (they take a little time, but these amazing little cakes are well worth the effort!

When you come across a recipe that calls for peeled hazelnuts, have no fear. You don't need to spend the better part of the afternoon whittling away at each one to remove those stubborn skins. Roast the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet for about 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven. When the skins have darkened and the nuts are fragrant, place the nuts on a large kitchen towel that you've dampened slightly. Rub the skins off of the hazelnuts using the towel. The steam from the nuts will loosen the skins, and they should crumble off easily.

Tony Millionaire spends his nights in the garage. That's where you'll find him, in a space built just wide enough for a Model T, bent over his drawing table until 4 a.m., a beer never far from his fingertips. The wife and kids can hear him in there, listening to talk radio or laughing and shouting, with the occasional crash when things are not going well. He is happy this way, a cartoonist left to his own whims and solitude at his 1926 home in Pasadena, drawing his weekly "Maakies" comic strip about a hard-drinking, suicidal crow or his ongoing series of portraits of the famous and infamous for publications such as the Believer and New York Magazine.

Total time: 40 minutes Servings: Makes 18 to 20 clusters Note: Cooking sugar to make these nuts is hot and can be dangerous, so take care. The sugar also hardens quickly, so you will have to work fast. You will have more nuts than you need to serve with the cake. Serve them as part of a candy selection, snack on them or chop them up and serve them atop gelato. The candies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to one week. Nonstick cooking spray 3/4 cup peeled hazelnuts 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup water Tempered dark chocolate 1. Line two baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper and have a rubber spatula and cooking spray nearby.

Total time: 1½ hours plus cooling time for the cake Servings: 12 to 16 Note: This recipe calls for a 10-inch angel food cake pan (preferably a pan with a removable insert). Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 2 cups (8 ounces)

Cookie recipe: A recipe in the Feb. 11 Food section for hazelnut-chocolate Linzer cookies did not include a step for adding the ground hazelnuts. They should be added to the cookie dough along with the flours.

Lemon-myrtle, lavender-Earl Grey, hazelnut-orange -- the selection of tea cakes from Valerie Confections screams spring. Assistant Food editor Betty Hallock is a fan: "They're moist, dense and not too sweet -- and not overly precious either," she says. "The hazelnut-orange tea cakes are rich with nutty flavor and bright with candied orange peel. And that citrusy-crackly-zingy glaze is, well, the icing on the cake. " In the batter, Valerie uses candied Seville orange peel from junetaylorjams.com . You also can make candied orange peel; included below is a recipe from test kitchen director Donna Deane.

NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Meyer lemon-cured salmon with spring vegetables Total time: 1 hour, plus overnight curing and tempering times Servings: 4 Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of chef Thomas Keller's recipes for the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, please share your photos of the finished dish so we can showcase them on our food blog and occasionally in print.

NOTE: Master Class columns are intended for ambitious home cooks, and some of the recipes may call for special ingredients or equipment. When that is the case, we will provide an alternative method for the main element of the dish so it can be prepared even without this ingredient or equipment. Lemon hazelnut vinaigrette Total time: 10 minutes Servings: This makes 1¼ cups vinaigrette Note: This recipe requires xanthan gum, as well as a fine mesh strainer.